Oh sh♥t, T-Rock made me like Trap Music?
Just kidding. The independent artist T-Rock describes his music as a mixture of R’n’B, Hip Hop, Rap and Pop.
I may not be good with categorizations. When I heard the very few first seconds of ‘Politicians Listen’ I thought, ooh heck, it’s trap music. I admit, I don’t like trap music. But at 00:20 when other musical elements as well as his lyrics turned up, I was pretty quickly blown away. I’m a melomaniac, so of course I’m first caught by the music. I’ll let you know what I think about both elements seperately.
Usually after an artist submits one or more songs and I like them, I research the artist. I couldn’t do so with T-Rock. Well, I did, but hardly found anything. Which is particularly absurd to me, if, like in this case, the artist indeed is good enough to be promoted or promote her-/himself.
That being said we’ll figure out his background later, let’s focus on his music and lyrics for now.
As a music fan, I usually just need very few seconds to be intrigued or not. Slow-burners are very rare. When listening to T-Rocks “Politicians listen” for the very first time, I wasn’t really expecting anything. Keeps me from being (too) prejudiced.
But geez, I was blown away after the intro! And that isn’t a common occasion either. But that song didn’t care about my aspiration to keep a professional distance.
On the music:
In “Politicians Listen” T-Rock paints an intruiging musical picture with lots of elements that harmonize with each other perfectly. A mixture of the Hip Hop sounds we know and love with delicate classical instruments/samples. What I found so interesting was the skillful combination of those elements. It’s arrangement is not flat or boring at all, as I sadly find with other upcoming artists. Some elements are placed off-beat, which provides for variety. All in all, this song is made like a clock-work and it’s fun to take a closer listen!
What I didn’t like or relate to was the laughter in the beginning of the song. To be honest, I think that lowered my expectation in the very beginning. Unjustly. I also don’t like choruses that are too repetitive, but with a message like this, repetition may even be needful.
On the lyrics:
The message of the song is clear and neccessary; T-Rock is not a politician, but he’s ready and willing to stand up for what he believes is common sense and human imperative. Including the need of a greater good than himself – faith – for being able to deal with what’s happening in reality and not giving up. I support that message!
My favorite line from the song goes “…while they’re watching us, do binoculars…”.
When you listen to the song, you’ll know why it’s so good. Let me tell you, why I like it;
In my eyes “they” are the antagonists, right? Politicians and other people of power, in this case. And if they’re watching us, we must be or do something of interest to them, good or bad, right? But if WE are using binoculars, we are looking out, too, but much more focused. We’re focused to hit where it “hurts”, while they’re still trying to figure us out. Geez, I love it.
I’m curious to find out and present you more on this artist. Stay tuned and expect an interview!
Here’s a link to “Politicians Listen” on Soundcloud!
You’ll find T-Rock as Trav-esty on souncloud right here!
